Omega J8006 Nutrition Center Commercial Masticating Juicer (Black and Chrome)

After reading many reviews and watching many online videos of the Omega J8006 juicer, I decided to get one. The unit arrived quicker than expected. I have been juicing beets, kale, carrots, celery, lemons and cucumbers. The juice that comes out of this unit tastes great and the remaining pulp is slightly damp meaning it is "squeezing" as much juice out as possible. There are hardly any fibres that come out through the juice spout. This is a masticating juicer that is extremely quiet. I couldn't believe the horrid jet engine type noise that came from some of the centrifugal type juicers that I had reviewed. Part of making fresh, healthy juice in the morning is not to wake up the entire household. I think you will use this juicer a lot more than centrifugal type juicers as it is so quiet. Just leave it on your counter assembled and ready to juice. The cleanup is so simple, a monkey could do it. As soon as you are done juicing, even before you drink your fresh juice, quickly rinse all items under running water. Maybe takes a minute or two. There is a giant toothbrush included to clean out a small screen, which should take 15 seconds at most. Total cleanup and reassembly time should be no more than 3 to 4 minutes. How cool is that? A 15 year warranty to boot! Come on, start juicing with this machine and become healthier!

I purchased this juicer 7-8 months ago, and have been using it steadily, but NOT daily, up until last week. From day one, it juiced my produce very well, much more satisfactory than a centrifugal juicer. I had great difficulty in deciding exactly what type of juicer to buy since the market is currently flooded with products, and the balance between price and health is difficult to maintain. To make it easier for all of you out there who want your money's worth AND do not want to compromise your health, I've written this review for you.

Masticating Juicers; Pros and Cons
-Mid price range, couple hundred more than the centrifugal, depending on brands. Not as popular in stores as centrifugals, so a bit more difficult to find, but still available.
- Nutritional quality of juice excellent.
- Easy to clean (less than five minutes), easy to store, fairly less noisy than the centrifugal, warranty with many brands. The jucier I bought from Omega has a 15 year warranty.
- This particular juicer is slower than the centrifugal, but for the nutrition comparison, is worth it to me. I do not use the plastic containers it came with for the juice as they are bulky, and make pouring difficult. However, a common liquids measuring cup works perfectly.
- The parts this machine uses to make the juice are plastic, only the screen is stainless steel. This bothered me a lot, as I avoid plastic as much as possible, especially when in contact with water or food. Previous reviewers have complained of metal and plastic shavings ending up in their juice, as of yet I have not experienced this, and since I knew of the complaints before I purchased my juicer, I watched it very carefully, and still do.
-Omega claims this juicer can do many things. I haven't tried them all out, but I did try the salsa method for chopping my peppers. I followed all instructions given, used all the correct parts, and though I did get an excellent pepper sauce, a lot of pepper juice came out, despite using the blank. Also, much of the juice overloaded the juicer and got behind the auger into the machine itself. I had unscrew the open/close and clean it because it was sticking shut. I haven't tried coffee beans, grains, nut butters, or anything else except juicing and chopping. I haven ot been using the juicer on a daily basis, though I have been using it on a weekly basis, and was careful not to overload it after the pepper incident. Despite my careful usage, when making green juice for a turbo smoothie last week, my juicer screen broke. I was going to put a picture up, but a previous review already did- it seems this may be a common problem. I have contacted Omega and they are sending me a replacement, but it made me somewhat regret compromising on my issues with plastics to settle for this juicer.
The only other option out there for me is a chop and press style juicer, such as the Norwalk. Unfortunately, they are entirely out of my price range, being 2,000.00. They are all stainless, get the highest extraction and nutritional quality of juice, but I simply don't have two grand to shell out for an appliance. There is no way they cost that much to make.
So, yes- this juicer meets my needs. (As long as the company is around to replace parts.) I may stock up on screens just in case (they are 9.99 each.) Until a better one comes along, this is the juicer for me. But I will be keeping my eye out for a reasonably priced Norwalk.

UPDATE: Down to three stars. I would have to agree with the other reviews- the juicing screen acted up and shaved plastic off the auger and who knows if I drank it or not, as of course, I only noticed when I washed it. The screen broke when juicing a couple lemons, and as this brand claims to juice citrus as well as other produce, it should have been able to handle them. I contacted the company, and they did supply me with a new screen and a new auger, free of charge. I received both within a week, well packaged. However, I am looking out now for a stainless juicer. This plastic junk and the poor design just doesn't cut it for me, and it should have been much higher quality for the price. I found out that the Norwalk, all stainless, is made in the USA, which would explain some of the high cost, but not all. I still can't afford one, so I have to stick with this Omega for now.

So far I've used it for a couple of weeks. It is an amazing monster that eats vegetables like a large bunny. The masticating noises made by the munching of carrots for instance shows its power. The amount of juice produced is incredible and not too frothy. I purchased this after much research. I decided to get this one as opposed to a sub $100 one or a blender version. Most experts point to this one, and now I noticed it has been reduced in price (any price protection Amazon?). The 15 year warranty convinced me to pay more now than 50-100$ every year for an inferior one. The price will also bother me enough to use it everyday. Compared to paying 2-3$ day for MLM vitamin drinks, this investment in natural inputs makes more sense. Buy this with confidence.